Food packing rack and method of packing food articles



July 29, 1952 G. w. sTlEHM FOOD PACKING RACK AND METHOD OF PACKING FOOD ARTICLES Filed Deo. 29. 1949 INVENTOR. :M J BY Patented July 29, 1952 l 2,605,118275." Eo'oD BACKING.RAoKiANn-Mmnononi PCKING' FOODARTICILES' Gr'lenifW/i: Stiehm; Milwaukee;.;;Wis., assignoriitof;

.lewetteisherman CcmpamyfggMilw!aukeegltis.,` acorporationftWisconsinr.

Application-December 29, 1949,Serial"No$j13555555 I; c. .This 'inventionrelatestoimprovements in food packinghv rack-sf andl method"- of' packing food articles, and rmore particularlyfltoa rackv for packing a'fpluralityof' foodl products suchl asA 'olives in containers.-

Certain foodproductsas forl example olives, are' packed for' retailing; inbrin'e filled jars or bottles. Each bottle or'jarof a given size should contain avv predetermined number of the food items; '1 and" in the'casef of vsuch litemsf'as olives,

cherriesand vthelile,thejars7 are nll'ed with the items-:hy hand-packing; Whicbrs slow, laborious Aand expensive. In a filled bottleV cnr-jarthe food items are rathertigh-tly-packedand' the consumer frequentlyE n'ds it Tquite di'iicul-t Ato dislodge'- and remove-'the uppermost items fromthe packedfjar.

Withthaabove'in'rminditfis; therefore; aA primary vobjectY of'thvpresent invention tof provide food packing-rack adapted? to Ihave-individual food'l products spacedly? impaled thereon where- 'uponfthe packed' rack? may `be' easily and quickly insertedinto va` brinefor Aliquor filled container whereby a desired num-herr ofthe food products are compactly and Yconveniently housed Within the. -containerwhich |`is thenJ4 covered', Vcapped" or sealed'lfo'r transportation and storaigfe,V for Asubsequent*openingfandisaccess tof the packedy food -pr'oductsby Athe ultinatepurchasen and consumer:

Affu-rther objectief'ftheinventionis' to provide afood packer the character-describediofa nature permitting easy removal of the packed `rack 'from the I container' after theL latterV isl openedl Whereupon fthe consumer may easily'` remove any delsred number-of the foodprodu'cts' from the rack ing;uniform-fooditems-ina wide-mouthed coni tainer to.- produceA a-solid'packz Within the container. andto per-miteasy.' removal? of the food items fromthecontainen A further objectpf .thef invention. is to. provide af-,foocl packing- --rack= which is f inexpensiveto 1a claims. (ciffaefimim manufacture, Which` facilitates the' Apacking; 'of foody productsin cont'ainersg'which is'neat and attractive in appearance; and which iswellfadapt'- ed-for the purposes set forth.

With'lthe above and Vother objects in view the invention consists of the improved food pack and method and the part's, combinations-l and steps incident thereto, as set forthin the claims, and al'l'equivalentsf thereof.

In the accompanying drawing in which'v the same reference characters indicatethesame` parts in all of the-views:-

1 is -a side' Viewoff' aglass-bottleor ja-r containing the improvedf' food packing# rack with the: latter having food products 'such'` as Volives im- FigZ s a Vhorizontalsectional View taken on line 2--2 ofFig. 1;

Fi'g'S isla siderviewfof the-improved food packingi rack; and

Fig.;'4 `is l al plan. View thereof'.A

While the improved-I food packing-rachis susceptible of" use in connection with' the packingof various types offood products of relatively small and uniform size and shape such asf cherries, pickled'onions and the. likeyit iinds particular utility `connectionwith 'the-packing of stuffed olives injars or' bottles. While the invention will be so described,` it Jisvnotrto'v be limited toa packsolely for: olives.

The*v food packing; rack perse .shown in Figs: `3 andxk is in theform' of a-treefwith' a central vere tical-caxialfstem' iti? mounted A.ori a horizontal base 8;.'Wl1iclrgconrprise'sf a pair 'ofi diametric'ally crossed legs. M'I'hetop ofitheI stem Srigidly carries an enlarged talib I adapted-'tofbe'manually engaged by the lingers ofra personitto permitl insertion of the. rack' into'theajar: crcontainer Il or removal ofsthef-rack from-saidf'container.` At spaced intervals. on thefstem 8 are series of pointed spears or arms I2L which are''horizontallyl disposed'v and extend radially Loutwardlyfrom-the'stem 8. The spears ofi each horizontalseriesi are preferably separated at' 90 angles fromi one. another'.

Thefent-ire food-packingrackmay'be cast or molded ofy plasticfor metal such 'as'stainlesssteeL or it. may beformedof Wood; or it maybe formed of a molded Wax coated paper or pulp material.

When a jar. on container l I is to .be'packed with aeplurality of; food products such vasolives. or the like 'the' rack',v initially removed fromr'the jar or container*l lli,v has. an olive `irnpale'don. each of theffspearsl2.-V Wherri'fhe foody product used is stuffed` olives the' impalingof: tirez same on the lrack-spears;l? is: facilitated bysmall openings Y 3 in the olives I3 which were previously formed in the olives for depitting. These openings, therefore, conveniently receive the pointed ends of the spears I2 and the olives are easily manually impaled on the spears of the rack to about the extent shown in Figs. 1 and 2, After the rack is thus manually loaded With the olives or other food products the packer grasps the tab I at the upper end of the rack and inserts the loaded rack into the container II, it being noted that the rack is of a height to be entirely contained within the container therefor. TheV container, with the packed rack therein, is next filled With a suitable brine or liquor and iinally a, cap or cover I4 is mounted on the container to close and seal the open end thereof. The packed container is then ready for storage or shipment.

When the consumer wishes to use any of the products in the container II it is merely necessary to remove the cap or cover I4 and grasp the tab portion I0 of the rack, raising the rack out of the container a desired distance. Theresition until it is desired to remove additional olives from the container and rack.

vA container packed With individual food products by means of the improved rack holds the packed products in a neat and orderly fashion n and the packer is always sure of having a predetermined number of the products in a, container of a given size or capacity. After all of the food products have been removed from the rack and consumed, the rack may be used in the household for such purposes as mounting and displaying appetizers and snacks. It may further be used for place names at dinner parties or to impale pieces of candy or bon bons for ready availability, and it may also be used in bowls for the mounting or support of owers.

The improved food packing rack is of very simple construction, is easy and convenient to use, is novel and attractive in appearance, and is well adapted for the purposes described.

The improved method by which containers may be packed with relatively uniform food items or articles is simple and expeditious and results in a relatively solid pack Within the container of a nature that the articles within thecontainer may be easily withdrawn and there is ready access to any selected article Within the container.

' What isclaimed as the invention is:Y

l. An olive rack for removable disposition in a cylindrical container, comprising a vertical stem, and tiers of horizontally projecting angularl7 separated spears, each being adapted to have a relatively uniform olive impaled thereon, the spears of one tier being so spaced relative to one another and thespacing between tiers being such that olives on the spears of a tier engage olives on adjacent spears of the same tier and also engage oliveson the spears of tiers thereabove and below.

2. The combination with a cylindrical container, of a food packing rack removably housed entirely within-a cylindrical zone therewithin of substantially less diameter than that of the container, said rack consisting of a central rigid stem having at spaced intervals along its length series of angularly separated radially projecting pointed arms with each arm being adapted to have a similar food article impaled thereon to project beyond its arm into contact with the inner wall of the container, the container being thereby completely packed and the impalement of the food products together with their impingement against the container wall serving to hold the food products snugly against unauthorized shifting and displacement.

3. The combination with a cylindrical container, of a food packing rack removably housed entirely Within a central cylindrical zone therewithin of substantially less diameter than that of the container, said rack consisting of a centra! rigid stein having at spaced intervals along its length series of angularly separated radially projecting pointed arms with each arm being adapted to have a uniformly sized and globular edible impaled thereon to project beyond its arm into contact with the inner wall of the container, the container being thereby completely packed and the impalement of the edibles together with their impingement against the Vcontainer wall servingto hold the edibles snugly against unauthorized shifting and displacement, the rack with the edibles thereon being removable longitudinally from the container to give access to any selected. impaled edible thereon. Y

4. The combination with a cylindrical container, of an olive holding rack removably housed en-I tirely within a central cylindrical zone there- Within of substantially less diameter than that of the container, said rack consisting of a central rigid stem having at spaced intervals ,alongv its length series of angularly separatedhorizontally projecting pointed arms, with each arm being adapted to have an olive impaled thereon to project beyond its arm into contact with the inner Wall of the container, the limpaled olives being in surface contact with adjacent olives, but any impaled olive'being accessible-for individual rremoval from the rack upon withdrawalof the rack from the container.

5. An olive holding rack for removable disposition in a cylindrical container, comprising Ya vertical stem, and vertically spaced tiers of thereby, said rack and the olives thereon being adapted to substantially lllv the container in which the same,v is disposed. 1L`

5. The combination With a wide mouth container, of an olive holding rack removably housed entirely Within a central zone within the container of substantially less size than that of the conv tainer, said rack including a central rigid stem each row and the axial spacing of the rows serv-V ing to produce a solid pack when olives are impaled on said arms and supported thereby, said support with olives thereon'being located Within and substantially'llingvsaid container.

7. The combination with a cylindrical container, of an olive holding rack removably housed entirely within a central cylindrical zone Within the container, said rack including a central rigid stem having at intervals along its length tiers of angularly separated horizontally projecting arms with each arm having means to have an olive impaled thereon with the radially outer portions of the olives being directly adjacent the inner wall of the container and retained thereby against separation from Said arms, the circumferential spacing of the arms in each tier and the axial spacing of the tiers producing, when the arms have olives impaled thereon, a solid pack, the rack with olives thereon being located Within and substantially filling the container, the relation of the size of the jar to the packed rack being such that a single ring of olives forms a relatively tightly packed layer leaving an axially disposed opening of a size less than suiiicient to receive an olive with said central stem occupying the openings in the several layers of olives.

8. An olive rack for removable disposition in a cylindrical container comprising a vertical stem, and tiers of horizontally projecting angularly separated arms, each of said, arms being constructed and arranged to provide individual support for a relatively uniform olive, the arms of one tier being so spaced relative to another and the spacing between tiers being such that olives on the arms of a tier engage olives on adjacent arms of the same tier and also engage olives on the arms of tiers thereabove and therebelow.

9. The combination with a cylindrical container of a food packing rack removably housed entirely within a central cylindrical zone therewithin of substantially less diameter than that of the container, said rack consisting of a central rigid stem having at spaced intervals along its length series of angularly separated radially projecting arms with each arm being constructed and arranged to support a uniformly sized and globular edible to project beyond its arm into contact with the inner wall of the container, the container being thereby completely packed and the support of the edibles by the arms together with their impingement against the container Wall serving to hold the edibles snugly against unauthorized shifting and displacement, the rack with the edibles thereon being removable longitudinally from the container to give access to any selected edible carried thereby.

10. The combination with a container, of a food packing rack removably housed entirely within a zone therewithin of substantially less size than that of the container, said rack consisting of a central stem having at spaced intervals along its length series of angularly separated radially projecting arms with each arm having means to carry a similar food article thereon to project beyond its arm into adjacency with the inner Wall of the container, the supported food articles and the spacing of the various series of arms and the angular separation of the arms in each series producing a substantially packed container, and the mutual contact of the food products and their adjacency with the wall of the container serving to hold the food products snugly against unauthorized shifting and displacement.

11. The combination With a wide-mouth container, of a plurality of spaced apart tiers of arms removably housed Within a central zone within the container, each tier of arms including at least two angularly separated arms and each arm having a relatively uniform food article mounted thereon and projecting beyond its arm into adjacency with the inner Wall of the container, the food articles in a given tier of arms being in contact with food articles on adjacent arms of the same tier and also being in contact with food articles on the arms of an adjacent tier, the container being thereby substantially completely packed and the mounting of the food articles together with their adjacency to the container Wall and contact with adjacent food articles serving to hold the articles snugly against unauthorized shifting and displacement, the tiers of arms with the food articles mounted thereon being removable from the container to give access to a selected food article.

12. The method of packing uniform edibles within a container, comprising individually impaling the edibles on spaced radial arms to a distance producing contact of adjacent impaled edibles, similarly impaling additional edibles on another series of arms at a distance to produce contact with edibles on the first-mentioned arms, and nally inserting said impaled edibles in a wide-mouth container in a manner to produce substantial contact between the edibles and the container wall.

13. The method of packing olives or like uniform food articles in a container, comprising the steps of rst impaling the olives on a tier of spaced radial arms to a distance producing contact of adjacent olives in saidtier, then similarly impaling additional olives on other tiers of spaced radial arms, and finally inserting all of said tiers of arms with olives thereon in a container with the various tiers of arms in superimposed relation and so spaced as to produce contact between the olives on the arms of a given tier with the olives on the `arms of a tier thereadjacent with all of the olives being in adjacency with the container wall.

GLEN W. STIEHM.

REFERENCES CITED The following referencesY are of record in the iile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 829,036 Ryan Aug. 21, 1906 854,820 Goodwin May 28, 1907 919,173 Hur Apr. 20, 1909 1,191,165 Eisenhardt July 18, 1916 1,308,253 oftedahl Ju1y 1, 1919 1,611,397 Wells Dec. 21, 1926 2,020,534 Brown Nov. 12, 1935 

1. AN OLIVE RACK FOR REMOVABLE DISPOSITION IN A CYLINDRICAL CONTAINER, COMPRISING A VERTICAL STEM, AND TIERS OF HORIZONTALLY PROJECTING ANGULARLY DEPARATED SPEARS, EACH BEING ADAPTED TO HAVE A RELATIVELY UNIFORM OLIVE IMPALED THEREON, THE SPEARS OF ONE TIER BEING SO SPACED RELATIVE TO ONE ANOTHER AND THE SPACE BETWEEN TIRES BEING SUCH THAT OLIVES ON THE SPEARS OF A TIERS ENGAGE OLIVES ON ADJACENT SPEARS OF THE SAME TIER AND ALSO EN- 